by John Lumley
We had a fantastic turnout for the 2017 Jimmy Dunn tournament with 6 full divisions and some of the matches starting on Wednesday night due to such a large turnout.
In the Open Division home pro team of Rob Whitehouse and James Asher In the final match of the group it was John Lumley and Mike Noll vs Jon Crowell and Will Hopton. Crowell & Hopton came racing out of the gate taking a 4–1 lead in a heartbeat. Noll starting to find his footwork struck a few lovely volleys but it wasn’t enough as Crowell & Hopton take the first set 6/4. The next set saw some great exchanges with all players fired up and ready to go. Lumley & Noll working as a good team and mixing up pace with length took the second set 6/3. Tied at one set all the third set started at 3 games all. The crowd was building with at least 40 watching this final set. Lumley with some clean returns took the lead 4-3, but then Crowell making some great gets brought it back to 4 all. Hopton who had been steady at the net all weekend looked solid still but Lumley & Noll took the lead 5-4. Noll returning hit a few look to be winners but Crowell & Hopton denied them the easy win and found the match at 5 games all, final set! With the crowd on the edge of their seats the players did not let them down, probably the best rally of the tournament took place at 40-30 where Crowell & Hopton won it to make it 5 games all, 40 all match point! Lumley goes for the main wall Dedans but misses high, Crowell puts in a great ball but Noll with a fantastic get scoops it back into play. A few more shot rally finds a difficult ball off the tambour that Lumley boasts out to Crowell’s backhand volley and he hits the net tape to give Lumley & Noll the title 4/6 6/3 6/5!
In the A Division it was extremely close with three teams all ending on the same number of wins. With Kenny Soffer & Tom Brownlie having a battle with Christian Bullitt & Dylan Ward, Soffer & Brownlie prevailed taking it 6/5 6/5. Another close encounter saw Noah Motz & John Motz narrowly lose to Bullitt & Ward 2/6 6/5 6/5. Noah creating some very fast forces proved too much for the Soffer & Brownlie team but only taking it by one game 6/5 5/6 6/5. All in all some fantastic Court Tennis played by all in this group with some special mentions for Christian Bullitt that played superb all week with Dylan Ward, they are a team to watch. Noah Motz has been improving rapidly and it is great to see a junior climbing up so quickly. The results from this group which ended going to count back were Noah & John Motz in first place. Second place went to Kenny Soffer & Tom Brownlie with the third place going to Christian Bullitt & Dylan ward. Dave Tedeschi & Andrew Roberts won the party at the dinner and various squash events but in the Tennis couldn’t quite keep the winning spree going.
In the B Division there were very close matches all the way through. Tom Pickin & Ben Hudson took down Anders Cohen & Ryan Carey 4/6 6/1 6/4 in a great game of Tennis. They then took down the Motz combination of Chase & Kris 3/6 6/4 6/4 in another great game. On the other half of the bracket Shep Skiff & Philip Stockton had a great first match against Gary Swantner & Morgan Purvis and snuck through 6/2 4/6 6/4 to take then on to the semi where they took out GVS & Peter Clement in straight sets 6/5 6/1. In the final Skiff & Stockton were in full force getting everything and being on point with the target hitting to take the trophy home 6/1 6/3.
In the back draw Anders Cohen & Ryan Carey played some great Tennis to win their first match 8/4 and to win the final 10/5, well played all.
In the C Division we had one of the matches of the tournament with Dick Tanfield & Sewall Hodges vs Arthur Whitcomb & Lincoln Frank. Both teams very focused and wanting to win saw Whitcomb & Frank take the first set 6/5 but Hodges digging deep and Tanfield steady Eddy had other plans taking the second set 6/3 to tie it at one set all. Obviously it went to 5 games all 40 all in the final set, Tanfield cuts a ball into better than 2 to beat the 2 yard chase and the crowd along with Hodges erupted in applause, well played all. Tanfield & Hodges went onto the final where they met the inform team of Brad Ursprung & Bill Connors. Ursprung playing the galleries looked calm and collected all through the match with Connors pounding the tambour to take the first set 6/3. Tanfield stepped up making some great volleys and Hodges was encouraging and a brick wall in the back but it wasn’t enough and Ursprung & Connors took the match 6/3 6/5.
In the D Division we saw 2 young and relatively new teams tear through the field to make the final. Saby Bose & Nik Das had a little trouble with Baird Standish & Chris Haley in the first round sneaking through 6/3 3/6 6/4. They met Ross Bolling & Peter Flynn in the final who had straight set wins all the way to the final. Bose being a very strong lawn Tennis player was a force up at the galleries volleying every ball while Das remained steady in the back. Bolling trying to create some pace with Flynn staying calm and steady couldn’t quite get the win and went down in the final to Bose & Das 6/3 6/2. Well played all of the players that made the final and keep it up!
In the E Division defending champions Jeremy Thompson and Tim McManus got off to a great start and found themselves in the final with relative ease. James Shaver and Randy Barr had a tough fight in their first round match against Jay Tackett and Andrew Brown but narrowly snuck through 6/4 4/6 6/5! For the semi final they played great tennis to secure their place in the final. With an all Philadelphia final the stage was set for a barn burner. Thompson in fine form served well and had some great volleys to edge the first set 6/3. Shaver had other plans and took an early lead in the second with some tremendous forcing from Barr. With Thompson fading from a heavy night before McManus stepped up and with an almighty overhead smash force sealed the deal and took home the title 6/3 6/4!
Thank you to all that came to Philadelphia to play and we look forward to seeing you next year.
